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From our Correspondent A columnist at the Malaysian Malay daily Utusan Melayu had lashed out at MM Lee Kuan Yew for "splitting" Singapore from Malaysia during the tumultuous years of 1963 - 1965 when Singapore was part of the Malaysian federation. (read article here)   Writing in a column published after Malaysia's 52nd National Day, former Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin said former (Malaysian) prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman had to throw Singapore out of Malaysia because it was a 'thorn in our flesh'. Wrote Mr Zainuddin: 'If 50 years of independence have given a deeper understanding of the poison sowed by Kuan Yew 40 years ago, the recent events mentioned would not have occurred.' 'The main reason Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman decided to kick Singapore out of Malaysia was the speech made by its then Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, in the Malaysian Parliament in May 1965 questioning the Malay government in Malaysia,' he wrote. He added that similar controversies are resurfacing, alluding to concerns among Umno leaders that Malaysian minorities are questioning the position of Malays and Islam. Singapore joined peninsula Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak on 16 September 1963 to form the Federation of Malaysia. A year later, the PAP led by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew contested in the Malaysian general elections and won three seats in the peninsula, one of the which was occupied by Singapore's third President Devan Nair. Lee was against the "special rights" of the Malays in Malaysia and advocated for a "Malaysian Malaysia" to treat all races equally. He founded the Malaysian Solidarity Convention together with smaller parties in Sabah and Sarawak to advocate his political ideas which infuriated Malay ultranationalists within the dominant UMNO. Racial riots broke out in parts of Malaysia and Singapore as a result of provocative articles published in the Malaysian press. The situation was spiralling out of control and the Tunku finally decided to ask Singapore to leave the federation. When Lee announced the independence of Singapore on 9 August 1965 on television, he broken down and cry. "For all my entire life, I believe in the union between the two territories (of Malaysia and Singapore)", he said. After Singapore was ejected from Malaysia, the remnants of the PAP in the peninsula regrouped to form the Democratic Action Party (DAP) led by a young lawyer named Lim Kit Siang from Batu Pahat, Johor to continued Lee's struggle for a "Malaysian Malaysia". Racial issues were raised again by the ruling UMNO in the aftermath of the March general elections last year when the resurgent opposition won an unprecedented 82 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, denying the ruling Barisan Nasional coaltion's traditional two-thirds minority. DAP formed the state government of Malaysia's richest state, Penang and Lim Guan Eng, the son of Lim Kit Siang, became its Chief Minister. This is the first time in Malaysian history that DAP has seized power at the state level In a desperate bid to regain support among the Malays, UMNO and its mouthpeices - Utusan Melayu, Mingguan Melayu and New Straits Times have been stoking racial sentiments and protraying themselves as defenders of Malay rights. During the recent Permatang-Pasir by-election in Penang, UMNO attacked the Islamist Party PAS of colluding with the Chinese DAP to undermine the interests of the Malay community. The strong racial rhetoric did not go down well with the electorate and the PAS candidate won eventually by a majority of more than 4,000 votes. The Malays in Malaysia, especially the older generation, do not have a favorable impression of Singapore's MM Lee who has become a perennial bogeyman for Malaysian politicians to wack in order to garner support from the grassroots. Zainuddin's latest outburst against Lee should be viewed in the wider context of UMNO's own impending political crisis rather than a diplomatic spat between the two countries. As rising support for the multi-racial Pakatan Rakyat has shown, racial identity and ethnic rights are becoming less of a concern among young Malaysians who clamor instead for an efficient, competent and transparent government. It is likely that Lee's message of a "Malaysian Malaysia" will resonate more and more with Malaysia's young in the future and it is an irony that his "successor" to fulfil his unfinished legacy is turning out to be a Malay ultra-nationalist who used to espouse values anathema to Lee's - Malaysia's ex-Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, founder of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), a multi-racial political party in the mould of Lee's PAP.   Related articles: >> The hidden agenda of MM Lee's visit to Malaysia (Part 1) by Fang Zhi Yuan and Lim Siow Kuan >> The hidden agenda of MM Lee's visit to Malaysia (Part 2) by Fang Zhi Yuan and Lim Siow Kuan >> Performance of Malaysian opposition states repudiates scarce tactics of MM Lee by Fang Zhi Yuan and Lim Siow Kuan   Debunking the official myths about HDB flats series: >> Part 1: Singaporeans do not own their HDB flats >> Part 2: HDB flats are unaffordable to most Singaporeans >> HDB flats will be "severely unaffordable "using the Median Multiple as benchmark for assessing housing affordability   EDITORS' NOTE: Our ultimate aim is to develop this site into a credible online news daily like “Malaysiakini” with a readership which is comparable in size to the mainstream media. 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By Lim Sue Goan from Sin Chew Daily MCA, which has been founded for 60 years, can still unable to shake off the fate of party struggle. It is definitely not by chance as MCA is not yet a mature political party in terms of political values and organisational structure. MCA was born during the great era when the country was fighting for independence. The then Chinese were enduring an enormouse suffering and MCA was officially formed at its inaugural meeting at the Kuala Lumpur Chinese Assembly Hall with the mission of defending Malayan Chinese interests. A cycle of sixty years has passed but MCA can still unable to get rid of the “association” role, that is, to look after the welfare of Chinese without a greater political ambition. Even worse, MCA had been called the “Tauke Party”, which seemed incompatible with the civilians. Not as other political parties, MCA does not have a core value like the “Malysian Malaysia” political objective for DAP, “Islamic country” for PAS, “Reformasi” for PKR and “Forward Together with One Heart” for GERAKAN. MCA has nothing at all. Even if MCA wants to plead on the Chinese behalf, it is lack of a set of “political blueprint for Chinese”. How is it going to upgrade the political status and competitiveness of Chinese? I believe that even MCA leaders have no answer for the question. MCA has been relying on timing and relationships along all these years. For example, it would negotiate with UMNO leaders before a general elections and make announcement about small funding, building extension and relocation plans. But Chinese will no longer be satisfied with such kind of electoral politics. In terms of promoting Chinese and politics within the party, its leaders are lack of political awareness and vision. From calling Chinese to join enterprises, MCA leaders become the “saviours for Chinese”, “economic genius” to “life-long learning”, MCA has been engaged in personal politics, rather than mass politics that promotes the country's political system. When the economic geniuses are out behind iron bars, politics are coupled with economy and holding companies are facing bankruptcy, the people's fantasy about MCA will break. And MCA will lose its political focus. Its status in BN will as well decline and it is going to lose important ministerial posts. When Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat came to power as the President, he was in the right direction to propose fighting for politics. Unfortunately, he was fighting for politics within the party instead of the politics for all Malaysians. When a party is lack of a core value and a blueprint for actions, the party's leaders and members will not have enough political awareness and consensuses. As a result, they will take power and position as the priority. That is why, the party's struggles in the past were all started with power fighting. Leaders of a political party with a great goal may always be changed and only the party is supreme. The immaturity of MCA's politics makes it difficult to unite its members. Also, it has never been able to reform. Therefore, the imperative is not to engage in the party's struggle, but to find a way out for the party instead. MCA leaders must set up a think-tank to seriously study and identify the party's core value, as well as to practically fight for politics. Only by this, it can avoid being overwhelmed by the political tide. Source: mysinchew.com  Read More →

From our Correspondent According to London-headquartered Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), which represents and regulates property professionals and surveyors, Singapore's residential market rebound may fizzle out by 2010 due to economic uncertainty and the spectre of higher unemployment. Though Singapore's unemployment rate is only 3.3 per cent in June, it looks set to rise sharply in the coming quarters. Based on previous relationships with the world trade index, unemployment could easily climb to 5 per cent by the end of year which will dampen the strength and duration of any sustained house price recovery. While RICS is of the view that short term strength in the residential market will propel prices higher on an improved global economy into the last quarter of 2009, the duration of previous downturns indicates that further declines in prices may well occur, should global trade momentum fall short in the mediaum term as high debt and rising real interest rates weight on the strength of the global growth recovery. In contrast, local property developer CapitaLand remains bullish in its outlook for Singapore. In a Capitaland CEOs forum held yesterday, Vice-President of investment Anson Lim told the audience that "the current market upswing is being driven by positive sentiment and supported by long-term fundamentals". CapitaLand expects the Urban Redevelopment Authority price index to recover between 5 per cent and 10 per cent for the rest of this year, from the trough in the second quarter. Singapore's property market has made a remarkable recovery since a mini-slump at the beginning of the year drove prices down by as much as 40% in the high-end premier homes. Prices of mass market homes hit a recorded peak recently with a 99-year leasehold project, The Centro at Ang Mo Kio fetching prices of between $1,100 and $1,200 psf. The prices of resale HDB flats have gone up by more than 5 per cent to reach the level seen during the property bull run in the mid 1990s. The rapid rise in prices prompted Minister of National Development Mr Mah Bow Tan to caution Singaporeans to exercise utmost caution and prudence when committing themselves to buying a property. Despite his warning, Singaporeans continue to flock en masse to property launches. A property bubble similar to the one in the mid 1990s may be in formation fueled by  property developers and agents who are out to make a quick buck.  Read More →